(those Two Are Extremely Brief Mentions) - Tumblr Posts
(This will probably be one of the only times I say anything about this subject, I just wanted to talk about it while it's on my mind)
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Okay, so to start this off, I'm a Christian, who's bisexual, I go to church on and off, and I don't talk about my religion all that often unless someone starts the conversation first. Now, the church I go to is a smaller-scale one, it's pretty big in terms of local churches, but it's nothing close to a mega-church or anything outside of simply being a community church. It's a southern baptist church, so you can already guess that some of their beliefs are terribly outdated (specifically their views on gay people, it's not so much condemning them to hell or anything, but the lead pastor is just the type who says he would never be gay, but wouldn't downright hate someone for coming out to him as gay or trans, or anything of that sort).
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Now, I say all this to say, what the FUCK are some Christians on? I've never personally been anywhere near or been in a megachurch, literally have lived like miles and miles out from them, so I can't attest to what they are like, but the things I've heard about them are wild. I recently learned what the word proselytizing means, and it's really disgusting to realize that this kind of behavior has happened so much that it got its own word. I know this kind of thing is happening, and if I hear or see someone do it in-person I actively speak against it, but I didn't really grasp just how widespread it was till now. Then there's the overwhelming number of pedos and rapists that attend Evangelical Churches (I specify Evangelical because I personally see that as the terrible grandparent of Christianity that got famous for their war crimes and overshadowed the rest of their family and boasts about it). And their beliefs in general are crazy.
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For me personally, the way I view Christianity is this; I do pick and chose what to believe from the Bible, or at least all the versions I've read save for a specific one I used too have (I can't find it anymore, but it was some teen version that was re-done by a very open author who actually went to college for this), because so many things have been lost to translation errors, and people editing things long ago, etc, etc. The simple version of that, it's almost impossible to really pick apart EVERYTHING that the Bible supposedly commands us to do as Christians. There are a few things that we can follow though, because they have been repeated so many times throughout the entire Bible that it's too coincidental to be considered anything other than truth; we should love everyone, no matter religion, gender, race, and orientation. It is our job to help those less fortunate than us, not because we need to force them to become Christians, but to show them Jesus's love, because everyone deserves that basic sort of care. We as Christians have no right to judge others and make bold claims such as 'you are going to hell!', as we are not any better than they are.
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So where are these megachurches getting off on to literally go against the fundamentals of our religion? It's not even a matter of 'oh you just don't understand the Bible' or 'it's just how my church teaches things', at that point your just stroking your own ego and trying to suppress everyone around you until they bend to whatever power trip your having. I just can't understand how someone can go 'Ah yes, I am very faithful and devout Christian. But unless you convert to Christianity, I can't give you the help you desperately need'. Or how they intentionally go out and 'help' people, under the guise of trying to force their religion on them.
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How my church has always operated is people first, our religion second. Because that's how it's SUPPOSED to be. It's not our job to make people Christians, it's our job to help people and guide them to the right path, not the path that we THINK is right. So if that path isn't Christianity, then what business do we have with forcing them to pursue it anyway? For one example, our church recently started something called the 'Lighthouse', which is a completely free and open place for children who have been through sexual and physical abuse. They help the victims of these horrific things find the help they need, whether it's getting in contact with a good social services agent, CPS, finding a lawyer to help them go to court, offering counseling and therapy, or just giving them a safe space whenever they need it. They don't do this to try and convert these people to Christians, they do it because they saw an issue in our community, and found a way to help. We've done numerous charity drives, partnered with tons of local operations, have done things like offer free dental work for those who can't afford it, started a free laundromat chapter, and countless other things, not in the NAME of Jesus, but because of the LOVE of Jesus.
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TLDR: Megachurches are ass, I am deeply sorry for anyone who has been affected or wronged by them, people need to stop forcing Christianity (its called faith for a reason, its because you believe in it, not because someone else scared you into thinking it), and why can't some Christians get the stick out of their ass and just accept the fact that not everyone wants to believe what we do?